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With the beta for the new firmware for Sony’s PlayStation 4 kicking off tomorrow, the Japanese console maker has detailed some of the new features coming to the popular console with this update. You can find the blog post here but we’ll outline what they’ve said in this article as well. If you didn’t sign up for the beta beforehand, you’re officially out of luck. Registrations are closed.

The often requested friend notifications are coming to the PlayStation 4. You can now select which friends matter the most to you and be notified when they come online. Another oft-requested feature to make its debut is the ability to appear offline. This option can be applied to all your friends, or those select few you don’t want to know you’re about to kill some dudes in Destiny. If you want to broadcast the aforementioned dudes to the world you can now also use Dailymotion as an extra streaming option.

A Further augment to the system’s social features is the option of setting custom-scheduled events for you and your friends. Once the event starts all people who signed up will automatically be added to your party, making jumping into a game quick and convenient.

The biggest new feature undoubtedly is the introduction of remote play functionality for desktop PCs. Once the feature gets implemented (which won’t be in the beta) players on a Mac or Windows PC will be able to stream their PlayStation 4 games from the console to your computer via your home network.

There is as of yet no set release date for the final version of the update, but it’s a great opportunity to play around with the new features and provide Sony with valuable feedback before the official implementation.

What feature are you looking forward to the most? Let us know in the comments!

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I've been playing games since I was just barely able to walk, and I never really stopped playing them. When I'm not fulfilling my duties as assistant news editor and tech reviewer, I'm either working on music, producing one of two podcasts or doing freelance work.